Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake
Ti'tsa-pa (Shoshoni)
Satellite photo from August 2018 after years of drought, reaching near-record lows. Note the difference in colors between the northern and southern portions of the lake, the result of a railroad causeway.
Great Salt Lake Show map of Utah Great Salt Lake Show map of the United States
Location	Utah, United States
Coordinates	41°10′N 112°32′W / 41.167°N 112.533°W / 41.167; -112.533
Type	Endorheic lake, hypersaline lake
Primary inflows	Bear, Jordan, Weber Rivers
Catchment area	21,500 sq mi (56,000 km2)
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	75 mi (121 km)
Max. width	28 mi (45 km)
Surface area	950 sq mi (2,500 km2) as of 2021
Average depth	16 ft (4.9 m), when lake is at average level
Max. depth	33 ft (10 m) average, high of 45 ft (14 m) in 1987, low of 24 ft (7.3 m) in 2021
Water volume	15,338,693.6 acre⋅ft (18.92 km3)
Surface elevation	historical average of 4,200 feet (1,300 m), 4,190.5 feet (1,277.3 m) as of 2022 March 14
Islands	8–15 (variable, see Islands)
Settlements	Salt Lake City and Ogden

The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere^[1] and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world.^[2] It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particularly through lake-effect snow. It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric body of water that covered much of western Utah.

The area of the lake can fluctuate substantially due to its low average depth of 16 feet (4.9 m). In the 1980s, it reached a historic high of 3,300 square miles (8,500 km²), and the West Desert Pumping Project was established to mitigate flooding by pumping water from the lake into the nearby desert. In 2021, after years of sustained drought and increased water diversion upstream of the lake, it fell to its lowest recorded area at 950 square miles (2,500 km²), falling below the previous low set in 1963.^[2][3] Continued shrinkage could turn the lake into a bowl of toxic dust, poisoning the air around Salt Lake City.^[4]

The lake's three major tributaries, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers together deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake per year.^[1] Since the lake has no outlet besides evaporation, these minerals accumulate and give the lake high salinity (far saltier than seawater) and density. This density causes swimming in the lake to feel similar to floating.

The lake has been called "America's Dead Sea"^[5] and provides a habitat for millions of native birds, brine shrimp, shorebirds, and waterfowl, including the largest staging population of Wilson's phalarope in the world.^[6]